This invention involves tie down straps for premanufactured buildings, the straps being used to tie down the frame of a building to a ground anchor adjacent the building structure. More particularly, the invention relates to a protector shoe that is placed about the support beam of the premanufactured building so as to protect the surface of the tie down strap from engagement with the edge of the support beam, thereby avoiding abrasion and cracking of the tie down strap.
Premanufactured buildings, such as mobile homes, trailers, prefabricated houses, and the like are manufactured at a central manufacturing site, and upon completion are moved to a location where they are placed on a foundation and occupied. Because these homes are designed to be easily moved from one site to another, they are not built on a permanent foundation but are built on a pair of parallel support beams, such as I-beams, and the structure is temporarily mounted on wheels for transport to an erection site where the wheels are removed and the building can be installed permanently. Usually, when the building is installed the support beams are placed on piers, such as concrete blocks, and the building is anchored to the ground.
Typically, the anchoring process involves the use of ground anchors and tie down straps extending from the ground anchors at an upward slope to the support beams, to hold the support beams to the ground. Anchoring the premanufactured building structure to the ground in this manner helps to avoid movement of the building structure in response to wind forces and earth tremors.
In some of the anchoring arrangements, the tie down straps are looped around a support beam and the end of the strap connected back on the strap, so that the loop formed in the strap surrounds the support beam. The other end of the strap is connected to the upper portion of a ground anchor, and tension is applied to the strap. When the tension forces are applied to the strap, the looped portion of the strap engages the opposed side edges of the support plates of the I-beam. This engagement results in forming angular folds in the tie down strap about the edges of the support beam, and the edges of the support beam tend to abrade and crack the tie down straps at their folds.
In the past, some of the installers have attempted to avoid the strap abrasion and cracking problem by placing a segment of the tie down strap material about the support beam and then placing the above described loop of the tie down strap about the segment of tie down material. With this arrangement, the segment of tie down material surrounding the support beam forms an intermediate shield between the loop of the tie down strap and the relatively sharp edges of the support beam, which helps to avoid the above noted problems of abrasion and cracking.
While the use of short segments of tie down straps as described above helps to alleviate the described problems, there are many occasions when the installer does not properly align the segment of tie down strap material inside the loop of the tie down strap. This misalignment of the segment with respect to the loop in the tie down strap is likely to cause the segment to be partially displaced from the loop at one or the other ends of the segment, or partially displaced long its entire length under the loop. Moreover, there are times when the segment is displaced longitudinally of its length so that it does not cover an edge of the support beam, or the strap may be cut to an improper length, leaving an edge of the beam uncovered.
The invention disclosed herein helps to solve the above noted problems.
Briefly described, the present invention comprises a protector shoe for a tie down strap engaged about a support beam of a tied down premanufactured building structure. The protector shoe is formed of sheet metal and includes a flat body panel for placement on the flat surface of the upper or lower support plate of an I-beam or similar support beam. An edge engagement means, such as a mounting flange, is formed on an edge of the body panel and extends at an angle with respect to the body panel for engagement with a first edge of a support plate of a support beam. A tail extends from the body panel and opposes the mounting edge of the body panel. The tail is formed in strips of a length for overlying the support plate and extending beyond the second edge of the support plate when the mounting flange engages the first edge of the support plate. One or more of the tail strips is to be bent or formed about the second edge of the support plate of the support beam.
The tie down strap is placed about the protector shoe, with the mounting flange protecting the strap from engagement with the first edge of the support plate of the support beam, and one or more tail strips being folded about the second edge of the support plate, either by the worker or the force applied by the tie down strap, so that the tail strip protects the tie down strap against engagement with the second edge of the support plate.
If needed, a second protector shoe can be applied to the opposite support plate of the support beam in the same way, to protect the loop formed by the tie down strap.
The tail strips typically will comprise three parallel tail strips, a middle strip and side strips straddling the middle strip. The space between the side strips will be formed at least as great as the width of the tie down strap. With this arrangement, the tie down strap typically engages only the middle strip and forms the middle strip about the edge of the support plate of the support beam, leaving the side strips unfolded. This tends to center the tie down strap between the side strips, so that the tie down strap extends across the central portion of the protector shoe, avoiding the protector shoe from sliding out from beneath the tie down strap.
In some instances, the installer might not properly place the tie down strap between the side tail strips of the support shoe, in which case the side strips will not form an obstruction to the placement of the tie down strap, but will become folded or bent in the same manner as the middle strip of the protector shoe.
Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide improved protection for a tie down strap at the folds of the tie down strap as it surrounds a support beam of a premanufactured building structure anchored to the ground.
Another object of the invention is to provide a protector shoe for the tie down strap extending from a ground anchor upwardly to a support beam of a premanufactured building, with the support shoe accommodating tie down straps and support beams of different sizes and shapes.
Another object of the invention is to provide a protector shoe for protecting the tie down strap of a ground anchor from abrasion and cracking when contacting the support beam of a premanufactured building.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.